Polymeric materials play an important role in modern materials science. Synthetic condensation polymers (e.g., materials having organosulfone, organosulfate, organocarbonate, organocarbamate, organourea, or organic ester-type polymeric backbones) are utilized in a variety of products and industries, including, for example, packaging, high performance engineering materials, medical prostheses and implants, optics, and consumer plastic goods. There is an ongoing need for new methods of preparing polymeric materials, particularly solid polymers (e.g., plastics), including materials for high value, specialty applications (e.g., medical prostheses and implants, engineering materials, or optics). The polymerization methods and polymers described herein address these needs.
Co-pending and co-owned International Application No. PCT/US2013/072871 to Dong et al. (published as WO 2014/089078), filed on Dec. 3, 2013, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a method for polymerizing silyl and fluoro-containing monomers catalyzed by basic catalysts, such as 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU), 2-tert-butylimino-2-diethylamino-1,3-dimethylperhydro-1,3,2-diazaphosphorine (BEMP). This method, while providing a variety of useful polymers, but the level of catalyst needed for the polymerization generally requires a purification process, such as an extraction or washing step, to remove the catalyst from the polymer product.
There is an ongoing need for new polymerization methods that are versatile and capable of producing a wide variety of polymer structures, including materials formally considered to be condensation polymers, under relatively mild and scalable conditions, and which do not require a purification step to remove the polymerization catalyst. The methods described herein address this need.